An interactive attraction featuring gangster memorabilia and commentary from film mobsters James Caan, Mickey Rourke and Frank Vincent opens today on the Las Vegas Strip.

And Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a former mob defence lawyer, plans to launch his Las Vegas Museum of Organised Crime and Law Enforcement later this year.

But while Mayor Goodman says the attractions are a nod to the city's history, critics say they are tawdry and glamourise murderers.

City of Sin: Actors playing a beat cop and a mobster act out a scene at the Mob Experience, one of two new gangster-themed attractions in Las Vegas

The Tropicana casino and hotel, a
one-time hangout for organised crime now more known for its
bargain-counter room rates, celebrated its new Mob Experience attraction last night.

Pamela Anderson and comedienne Rita Rudner attended the red carpet launch, as well as a handful of
mob heirs, including the son of Tony 'The Ant' Spilotro, the inspiration
for Joe Pesci's character in Casino.

The sprawling casino attraction features
the diary of mobster Meyer Lansky, Spilotro's gun and family photos and
home movies from other infamous criminals. Visitors are greeted by
life-size holograms of chatty gangsters and a chance to get 'made'.

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The publicly-funded mob museum,
meanwhile, is scheduled to open in December at a downtown Las Vegas
courthouse where a detailed mob hearing that helped expose organized
crime to ordinary Americans was held in 1950.

The $42million museum started as an
effort to save one of Las Vegas' few historic buildings. It has amassed a
wide collection of gangster artifacts, including the wall from Chicago's
St. Valentine's Day massacre, the only gun recovered at the mass
shooting and the barber chair where hit man Albert Anastasia's life came
to an end in a 1957 New York murder.

'What differentiates us from any other city is our history,' said Mayor Goodman said. 'This is the story of America.

'This isn't some lampoon,' he added. 'It's not a gimmick. This is going to be a real museum.'

'Golden era': The Mob Experience and the planned organised crime museum have been accused of glamourising gangsters

Neither attraction has sidestepped controversy, however.

The Tropicana's Mob Experience was recently sued by the daughter of notorious gangster Sam Giancana over an alleged breach of contract involving the purchase of Giancana's furniture.

Critics have also slammed the attraction for being too deferential to the family members of the gangsters.

It has been argued the exhibition glosses over the mob bosses' violent histories while praising them as handsome fathers.

In one room, an actor asks visitors how a petty casino thief should be punished for his crime. 'Do we use a shovel on him?' the actor asked an encouraging crowd during yesterday's grand opening.

At the same time, the mob museum has
been hounded by criticism that Mayor Goodman, a longtime mob ally, is
glamorising organised crime.

Relic: A limo once belonging to mobster Bugsy Siegel is seen on display at the Mob Experience at the Tropicana Hotel

'Why are any of these brutal killers being honoured? This is nothing but gross sensationalism,' said William Donati, an English professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the author of Lucky Luciano: The Rise and Fall of a Mob Boss.

'This is the image of Las Vegas that we want to portray?' Mr Donati asked. 'What are they going to do next, have a show honouring the drug cartels of Mexico?'

To appease critics, the mob museum brought in historians, law enforcement officials and acclaimed museum leaders to help build its collection.

Former FBI agent Ellen Knowlton said she initially worried the project would romanticise mob culture after Goodman asked her to head the not-for-profit museum.

She focused on the consequences of crime and persuaded collectors and federal investigators to provide photographs, transcripts of wiretaps and other materials from various mob investigations.

'If you thought organised crime was a glamorous lifestyle when you walked into the museum, you won't feel that way when you walk out,' she said.

Crime doesn't pay? Jewellery that once belonged to mobster Mickey Cohen features in the interactive Mob Experience attraction